Sobering Up After an Awful Election Night

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There are many votes yet to count locally, but for losing candidates and causes here and nationally it may be time to look in the mirror and recall that old warning, “the fault, dear Brutus, is not in the stars, but in ourselves.”

The Democrats lost a critical gubernatorial election in Virginia, where Republicans had not won a statewide contest in years.  There are myriad reasons for the loss, including a false belief that public schools are teaching critical race theory. Add as well the long-running intra-party quarrels in Congress, and so far failure to achieve a national political record beyond delays and public squabbling.  Sometimes insisting — see Manchin/AOC/Jayapal — on too much means delay, an image of incompetence, an erosion of public trust. Political purity comes with a cost.

And if you are Nicole Thomas-Kennedy you might ask that mirror what were you thinking with the trail of tweets that blew up your city attorney campaign: “I hate this country,” “rabid hatred of police,” “property destruction is a moral imperative,” and “heroes that set the jail on fire.” These are not slogans likely to win votes in a race to become City Attorney.

Add to the what-if list mayoral candidate Lorena Gonzalez, whose two attack ads — tying Bruce Harrell to Trump and digging up old black man tropes by having a white woman accuse Harrell of blinking at sexual abusers — damaged her own campaign by stirring outrage from Black leadership, putting Gonzalez on the defensive in the closing weeks of the campaign.

“What goes around, comes around.”

Mike James
Mike James
Mike James was a long-time anchor newscaster at KING TV.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Perhaps not, but the 14% plunge in Biden’s favorable rating (42% now), tied at least in part to his major legislative push stalled for months by the Democrat’s in-party squabbling, hovers now over any D in a contested race.

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